About Fikret Berkes
Fikret Berkes has a B.Sc. from McGill University, Montreal, Canada and a PhD in Marine Sciences from the same university.

Dr. Berkes is an applied ecologist by background and works at the interface of natural and social sciences. He joined the University of Manitoba in 1991 as the Director of NRI, a position he occupied until 1996. He has served as the President of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (1996-98) and as the leader of a number of research groups. He has devoted most of his professional life to investigating the relations between societies and their resources, and to examining the conditions under which the "tragedy of the commons" may be avoided. He works on theoretical and practical aspects of community-based management, co-management, and traditional knowledge.
 
His publications include the books, Sacred Ecology (Routledge, 2008), Breaking Ice (U Calgary Press, 2005), Navigating Social-Ecological Systems (Cambridge U Press, 2003), and Managing Small-Scale Fisheries (IDRC, 2001). Dr. Berkes holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair (2002) and the title of Distinguished Professor (2003).